So I have have been playing around with wave one and theory crafting some ship builds and came up with this.

VSD I:

Dominator

Expanded Launchers

Screed (probably not on this ship)

I think I would fill the list out with two stripped down GSDIIs and then interceptors.

I played around with the dice rolls and with 5 black 2 blue and 3 red the average damage was 9-11 with one accuracy result.

Even if you never get this shot off the VSD is dictating (more than normally) where your enemy goes on the battlefield driving him out in to close range of the GSDs.

With that build they will go after your GSD's at long range for their points. The Dominator will be avoided unti they can swing around into your rear hull zone. Though by that time there may not be a long enough time to take down the VSD but the GSD's can be taken out for the VP.

What Beatty said or they will send in the fighters

While you probably wont shoot many rebel ships with the max firepower there i do wonder how handy it might be in a mirror match. If that build reliably beats a Vic II dominator then it could cause some headaches.

... the average damage was 9-11 with one accuracy result...

To calculate the average icons of one type on one die you add up all that icons on the respective die (no matter on which side or in which combinations with other symbols) and then divide that total number by the total number of sides that die has (no matter if the icon in question is on that side or not). on a standard die that is (1+2+3+4+5+6)/6 = 25/6 = 3.5 points

To calculate the average icons for multiple dice you add up theire individual mean values as just calculated. on 3 standard dies that is 3*3.5 = 10.5 on average for the sum of 3 die.

im sorry for the comment but this kinda hurt my eye.

With that build they will go after your GSD's at long range for their points. The Dominator will be avoided unti they can swing around into your rear hull zone. Though by that time there may not be a long enough time to take down the VSD but the GSD's can be taken out for the VP.

I don't think there is a way for the rebel player to stay out of the black dice if you fly it well and space the ships well in setup. If it was that easy to keep the battle at long range the imperials might as well not show up no matter what ships they bring.

While you probably wont shoot many rebel ships with the max firepower there i do wonder how handy it might be in a mirror match. If that build reliably beats a Vic II dominator then it could cause some headaches.

If three VSD builds become a thing, I might think of throwing in gunnery team for fun.

... the average damage was 9-11 with one accuracy result...

To calculate the average icons of one type on one die you add up all that icons on the respective die (no matter on which side or in which combinations with other symbols) and then divide that total number by the total number of sides that die has (no matter if the icon in question is on that side or not). on a standard die that is (1+2+3+4+5+6)/6 = 25/6 = 3.5 points

To calculate the average icons for multiple dice you add up theire individual mean values as just calculated. on 3 standard dies that is 3*3.5 = 10.5 on average for the sum of 3 die.

im sorry for the comment but this kinda hurt my eye.

No worries. My brain gets a 12 hour sabbatical from math every Friday at 6pm and I appreciate that you figured it out. I did a lot of rolling last night (as opposed to math) to see what the outliers were. Factoring in Screed an 8 damage roll was pretty disappointing.

Also I think this works well against slow hulking ships without Dominator. The blue dice at most make up 2 of the cumulative damage. They are however a good source of accuracy rolls and Dominator really helps a VSD I against rebels.

With that build they will go after your GSD's at long range for their points. The Dominator will be avoided unti they can swing around into your rear hull zone. Though by that time there may not be a long enough time to take down the VSD but the GSD's can be taken out for the VP.

I don't think there is a way for the rebel player to stay out of the black dice if you fly it well and space the ships well in setup. If it was that easy to keep the battle at long range the imperials might as well not show up no matter what ships they bring.

The Rebels are not as easy to push around as you made it out to be, the list you have IS brutal but the VSD I will be left behind if the Rebel player knows what he is doing. All the Rebel ships are faster and more maneuverable than the VSD so to get them in short range of your front hull zone they will have to screw up really really bad.

Calculate everything with them coming into your flank and rear and you will see a more realistic version of what will happen when all your Rebel friends get their ships figured out.

The VSD I will see more table time when the Large ships get here.

Consider engine techs as well.

Beatty is 100% on the money.

When you fly Imps vs Rebs, expect your opponents overall Tactical Approach to be some variant or hybrid of Refused Flank, Envelopement, and / or Running-Away.

These are all just fancy ways of hiding the fact that they want to shoot your lovely Star Destroyers in the engines, from as great a range as possible. IT is very helpful to be able to engage at range, and pile on some damage as they are closing.

the rebels' ability to run around like ninnies is greatly hampered by certain objective choices

things like contested outpost or fire lanes make running away a not terribly feasible tactic

If you're going long range to counter their fire (between similar red dice + repairs + redirects, should be possible), there seem to be 3 ways to go about it

1. bombers (+ corruptor?) esp rhymer give you the longest "threat range" (in warmachine, threat range is the distance from which a model can move and then attack an enemy) in the game so far

2. EA and offensive upgrades. I think Wulf might be an un-sung hero here, since he lets you continuously apply a CF re-roll to your red dice.

3. Just Victory 2 with dominator. Not long range, but medium range blue dice + dominator make every arc of the victory at least moderately terrifying.

and, if you go gladiator, there's always engine tech Demolisher screaming in from an entire maneuver tool away and dumping one-shot levels of dice onto a poor ship

Our playgroup proxied Wave 1 for roughly a month before release. I tried more than one Gladiator numerous times, and came to the conclusion that unless it has the Demolisher title, it isn't a great ship. Demolisher is pretty scary and it's incredibly hard to escape (played upwards of 10 games with it, it's good) while the generic Gladiators suffer from being too easy to avoid. Since you attack BEFORE you move, a good opponent will ensure he's never in range since he can pre measure his movement. You might get off a few attacks per game, and at that point there are better options. The other title is meh, since even if you are alongside the ship you are trying to shoot, if they're going speed 3 you're most likely going out of range; seems bad against Rebels.

The Insidious is a classic rear guard for bigger ships, I guess it may become really strong once the ISD arrives. It sure as hel..pful friends disencourages circling around it's bigger pal.

I am curious about glads, but unfortunately cannot afford to buy them with 80% of my local group specing into empire and so many shiny rebels

apart from the demolisher (Who's just evil looking), they seem like things you have to use in concert with other elements to have a reliable chance of getting those devastating barrages off

surprised about insidious, though. Between speed 3 and engine tech turning, I thought getting behind stuff would be easier

It is easy to get behind stuff, but as the recent rebel ships are pretty fast, it is not that easy to stay behind them, as they will be either out of range or out of facing (and thus out of range). It may be usefull to force opponents into bad moves, though, earning its points not by blowing stuff up but by redirecting enemy vessels into more convenient positions than the rebel planned.

I am curious about glads, but unfortunately cannot afford to buy them with 80% of my local group specing into empire and so many shiny rebels

apart from the demolisher (Who's just evil looking), they seem like things you have to use in concert with other elements to have a reliable chance of getting those devastating barrages off

surprised about insidious, though. Between speed 3 and engine tech turning, I thought getting behind stuff would be easier

It's not just getting behind them, it's still being behind them and in range at the beginning of your next activation, since you attack BEFORE you move.